Skills for Digital Age Learners

Welcome to Skills for Digital Age Learners!

This course focuses on Informational Literacy and Media Literacy. We also focus on the development of the 4C's of 21st Century Skills - Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking. These skills reflect the specific demands of our competitive, technology-driven economy and society.

WHAT IS INFORMATIONal LITERACY?

“A set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information."

While many middle schoolers may be media-savvy, most are not necessarily digitally literate. The first and second marking period of this course will focus on providing seventh graders with opportunities to effectively use information technologies to find and manage information, and to critically evaluate and ethically apply that information to solve a problem. Topics of exploration include: Learning Balance, Online Safety & Security, Online Privacy, Digital Law, and Searching the Web.

WHAT IS MEdia LITERACY?

“The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms.."

The first and second marking period of this course will focus on providing eighth graders with opportunities to effectively evaluate and create media without plagiarizing. Topics of exploration include: Living in a Participatory Culture, Seeing Stereotypes, Visual Literacy, Sexting, What's News?, and Positive Participation.

What is Project Based Learning?

“Emphasizes learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary, and collaborative."

During the third and fourth marking periods, this course becomes a place to practice the skills that students learned the first half of the year through Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL helps all learners to develop skills in technology use, inquiry and research, teamwork and cooperation, communication, and content delivery. These skills will help all learners to succeed in the future, both in school and in today's work world.

What is Schoology?

Schoology lets our class connect both at school and from home. We will be using it extensively this school year. With Schoology, learners can engage in a variety of activities, such as submitting homework assignments, reviewing grades, participating in interactive discussions, receiving announcements and feedback, taking tests, and writing academic blogs. Ask your child for your unique Parent Access Code. Then follow these steps to set up your own Parent Account on Schoology.